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Feature Request - Blog Surfer email opt-in for private blogs

  1. smpalmer
    Member

    Private blogs have the problem of not having a good way of notifying readers of new posts. RSS feeds don't work, and therefor services like FeedBurner don't either. Blog surfer is a nice feature for private blogs, particularly if you have a number you are a user/reader/contributor to. With Blog Surfer, you are still required to login to your wordpress account to check for any new posts though. I understand that email notification has been discussed before (I have searched for and read them), and that there are some security/spam concerns. I think my suggestion gets past the spam concern and hopefully wouldn't require too much in the way of resources.

    I would like a additional option in the Blog Surfer to be alerted by email if one of the blogs I "subscribed" to is updated. I think simply a note that the blog has updated, there is no need to send the content. This would be an opt-in by the user, so the spam should not be a concern. The user would also be able to choose which blogs he/she would want emails about, and could choose to discontinue the emails at any time. I assume that wordpress.com already currently runs some type of email server as it handles the signup and sends emails for comment moderation. If there is some worry about resources, perhaps the email notification could be only be available for private blogs (since there are other options for non-private blogs). Limiting it to private blogs and making it opt-in should keep the number of emails sent down. It would however provide a very valuable service that is presently unavailable for private blogs.

    Thanks!

  2. drmike
    Member

    Best bet would be to submit a feedback with this suggestion. I would include a link to this thread so that staff is aware that you've brought up the idea in the forums and they can monitor the feedback.

    Only issue I can think of (I'm off coffee again and out of it so bare with me) is those folks who use the blog surfer with hundreds of blogs. They're going to get swamped by the email.

    RSS is actually turned off on these blogs because if it was turned on, then anyone could have access to teh blog. It wouldn't have been private then.

  3. smpalmer
    Member

    Thanks for the reply.

    I also sent this in as feedback, but thought I would post it here in case other members had additional suggestions. Someone else who doesn't have access to feedback (ie not a developer) might have a good suggestion or comment. It also lets others who might be interested in this as a feature chime in. :)

    I completely understand why RSS is turned off in a private blog. Thats why an email notification would be so useful. Since with private blog, the authentication and access is done through a wordpress.com account, the only way I can see of providing any type of notification is through wordpress.com. No third party would be able to help (FeedBurn or the like). It would have to be wordpress.com that implements something.

    If you use Blog Surfer with hundreds of blogs, that shouldn't be a problem. What I was thinking was an option with each individual subscribed blog (not as a group). You could get email notification for one of the hundreds if you wanted. :)

  4. thetruthseekers
    Member

    I agree that that email notification would be very helpful. I am very new to blogs, but I would like people that are interested in reading my blog to be able to know when I update it. It seems like an email notification with a link would be very simple.

  5. drmike
    Member

    Already have what you're asking for: FAQ

    Hope this helps,
    -drmike

  6. tomtombush
    Member

    The method desribed in the above link doesnt work for private blogs which is what the OP asked for. Feeburner says, it cant find a valid feed at the given address. Or am I missing something?

  7. raincoaster
    Member

    Just that you didn't specify your blog was private.

  8. drmike
    Member

    We get a lot of thread hyjacking around here. All we can do is go with what you tell us.

    It's up to the blog owner actually. If they want you reading their blog, they would have contacted you.

  9. ellenwallace
    Member

    Doesn't seem to me the initial post has been addressed yet, or am I wrong? I have three professional blogs but just set up a private, closed family blog to help us deal with all the details of our mother's death: we're in different countries, time zones, etc. and we're all crushed by too many circular family e-mails. The blog is helpful but everyone has to keep checking it - we'd love to find a way to have an e-mail alert when a new post or comment goes up. Can't see a way to do it - Feedburner and rss don't work, as smpalmer points out.

  10. timethief
    Member

    There is no wp.com feature for automatic email alert for any of us wp.com bloggers whether our blogs are private or not. Surely a family member in such a situation will want to be in close contact and to do a daily computer check of the blog can't be that inconvenient can it?

    You can use your own email program on your computer to create a family group and email them every time you post. Once set up this only takes a moment to send to all email addresses you have included in the group.

    There's also a free mailing list you can set up for your family here http://www.coollist.com/

    HTH :)

  11. cchammdance123
    Member

    i have a private blog. How do you let only certent people on your blog,
    need help,
    cchammdance123

  12. raincoaster
    Member

    Please don't hijack existing threads with totally different issues. Your answer is in the FAQ, btw.

  13. kev097
    Member

    I agree with this request. Since the RSS feed doesn't work with private blogs, we need e-mail updates for private blogs.

    Or, alternately, make RSS feeds work for private blogs.

    Either works.

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